Tag: Microsoft

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Tech

Microsoft Re-launched Windows 10 October 2018 Update With Bug Fixes And Improvements

Microsoft has re-launched Windows 10 October 2018 Update after fixing the bugs that caused the update’s withdrawal twice and the delay in its deployment. At the time of launch, Microsoft’s vice president for Windows OS has promised to improve software quality and delivery of these seasonal updates.

The new Windows 10 October 2018 Update will roll out gradually and, for the time being, only for users who manually update their operating system or those who downloaded the media creation tool and/or ISO.

If all goes well and severe bugs would not be reported again, Microsoft will gradually offer the upgrade to a broader market of Windows 10 users in the upcoming weeks, until a global deployment would be implemented via Windows Update.

Microsoft Re-launched Windows 10 October 2018 Update With Bug Fixes And Improvements

Besides the known bug fixes and security updates that cover the last two months, there are no relevant new features beyond those of the original Windows 10 October 2018 Update. Also, some stability improvements have been implemented.

Many users complained about the lack of quality control within the Insider testing program of the initial Windows 10 October 2018 Update. In accordance, Microsoft has promised to update the Feedback Hub tool so that the testers can report the level of bugs’ severity.

Some testers reported, before the Windows 10 October 2018 Update release, some of the most severe bugs in this version, but none of the reports received too many affirmative votes. Most users complained about poor interface performance or customization.

Along with the re-launch of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Microsoft’s vice president Michael Fortin has posted an official blog entry titled “Windows 10 Quality Approach to a Complex Ecosystem. Basically, it promises to improve the quality of software and the delivery of these updates.

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Tech

Windows 10 19H1 Hints To an App That Permits Making and Receiving Phone Calls on Windows 10 PCs

A few days ago, the Dell Mobile Connect application rolled out with which users could connect their smartphones with their Windows 10 PC. Among other functions, the app allows users to make calls directly from the PC, using the mobile phone as an intermediary since, basically, what it did was to reflect the phone call on the PC. Similar to this Dell Mobile Connect application, it seems that Microsoft might also launch its own app, according to the references that have been found in Windows 10 19H1.

Windows 10 19H1 hints to a possible app to sync PCs with smartphones for making and receiving calls on computers

Italian tech news portal Aggiornamentilumia has found a non-active application in Windows 10 19H1 with the name Windows.CallingShellApp.

Among the text strings, there are some that refer to several connection-related functions for calls such as “preparing..”, “transfer to PC,” “transfer,” “could not transfer, “incoming call options” or “the call could fail.” Also, “you are out of Wi-Fi range” appeared there, indicating that everything would be done via wireless connections.

The new functions might eventually come as a standalone app or in “Your Phone”

Not being an active app, we cannot know exactly all its function or how it works, however, and taking into account the development of “Your Phone,” it would not be surprising that the next step of Microsoft is to allow users to use Windows 10 PCs to make and receive phone calls.

You should take all that with a grain of salt, even though you might be one of those people who are waiting for a Microsoft standalone app to sync your smartphone to your Windows 10 PC for making and taking phone calls. Luckily, the functions found within the Windows 10 19H1 might either be implemented in a standalone app or might arrive in the “Your Phone.”

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Tech

Microsoft’s Bing Returned Malware To Those Willing To Download Google Chrome

Even though Microsoft may not like it, as it’s trying to make more and more people use Microsoft Edge, some users download Google Chrome from Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. What’s strange is that Bing returned a malware as a search result, something that Microsoft has been aware of and, allegedly, fixed.

Users who have used Bing to search for how to download Google Chrome have come across malware. It was an ad which ranked ahead of organic results. So many users have fallen into that trap and accessed the malicious link. Microsoft has already solved the problem, as they reported, but it is unknown how many users have been affected. More concerning, however, is that once again the attackers have managed to bypass the security filters of the Redmond-based company, this time directly within Bing, its search engine.

Users who tried downloading Google Chrome from Bing bumped into malware

The malicious ad looked like an organic search result, something that is legitimate, and it was looking like linking to the official Google.com site. But, in reality, the cyberattacker was actually redirecting visitors to googleonline2018.com and offered a Google Chrome version infected with malware. While that malicious link was blocked by the Google search engine automatically, Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, and the Microsoft Edge Internet browser took no action against the URL in question.

Microsoft has stated that “protecting customers from malicious content is a priority,” so they have already removed the ad that was redirecting users to a Google Chrome version infected with malware.

What is even more worrying is that this is not the first time throughout this year when Bing shows malicious results to users looking for downloading Google Chrome. On the other hand, in the Windows 10 store, apps that use phishing techniques to deceive users by pretending to be a well-known company have also infiltrated too often in 2018.

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Games News

Microsoft Announced An Upcoming All-You-Can-Play Subscription For PC Users

Microsoft has some big things in store for PC gamers. In the future, gamers will be able to purchase an all-you-can-play subscription service that is very similar to the Xbox all-you-can-download Game Pass. We received this information from Satya Nadella, the CEO. However, there wasn’t an official announcement for the upcoming subscription service.

Nadella mentioned it in an earnings call when she discussed the importance of “increasing the strength of the community” focusing on the Xbox brand. She then added that “obviously, bringing Game Pass to even the PC is going to be a big element of that.”

The Game Pass subscription

The original Game Pass is available only on console and it was launched at the beginning of 2017. There is a 10$ fee and the users get access to more than two hundred games from 11 different studios. It will be quite tricky for Microsoft to bring it on PCs. That is because games available for PC require a different subscription.

This is also a good time to remember about Microsoft’s “Play Anywhere” initiative, one that attempted to bring games that can be bought for both the console and the PC. However, that project didn’t advance too much after they experienced some compatibility issues. Nonetheless, judging by Nadella’s statement, it is very likely that Microsoft managed to overcome them.

If the Game Pass subscription does become a reality for PCs, there is plenty of competition that it will have to face. There are already subscription services such as Humble Monthly, Utomik and Jump and they also come with unlimited access to numerous games for a monthly fee. Nonetheless, Microsoft does have a couple of advantages compared to its rivals, especially since it is a bigger company with strong connections when it comes to third party publishers.

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Tech

Windows 10 Has A Bug Within Its Built-in ZIP Tool – Microsoft To Launch A Patch in November

Windows 10 has some bugs after the recent updates, according to users’ reports. After a very troublesome issue that deleted the files of several users, here is another recently revealed bug that affects the ZIP archives. Microsoft has promised a patch.

Windows 10 has a bug regarding the built-in ZIP tool

If you use the native Windows 10 tool to access and extract the content of a ZIP archive, a conflict may exist, only that the Windows 10 users are not warned about it. If you copy or move files from a ZIP archive, without first extracting the content to a new folder containing files with the same name, Windows 10 does not display the pop-up message “Do you want to replace these files?”

Windows makes it look like the files have been replaced automatically when, in reality, the copy action for these files is not executed. This scenario does not occur when you use a third-party tool to extract archives, such as 7Zip or WinRAR, just to mention a few.

Microsoft to fix the ZIP tool bug with a patch to be launched in November

The problem mentioned above popped up after the recent Windows 10 October 2018 Update Microsoft rolled out earlier this month, just a few weeks ago. As regarding this ZIP tool bug, Microsoft announced that a patch would soon be available for download.

However, the giant tech company announced that the patch would arrive in early November, but offered no additional details on this patch.

If you regularly handle ZIP archives with the Windows 10 built-in tool, it may be advisable to turn to 7Zip or WinRAR in order to avoid the problems mentioned above. Also, with 7Zip, WinRAR, or any other such tool, users will be able to work with virtually any type of archive in the world.

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